Toilet seat

ABSTRACT

A toilet seat includes a seat unit, a user-operating unit, and an acting device. The seat unit includes a housing and a seat member that has front and rear portions. The seat member is pivotally connected to the housing at the rear portion. The user-operating unit is mounted in the front portion of the seat member. The acting device is mounted to the seat unit and is driven by the user-operating unit to perform an action.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese Patent application no.100143960, filed on Nov. 30, 2011.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a toilet seat, more particularly to a toiletseat capable of sensing a motion of a user so as to spray wateraccordingly.

2. Description of the Related Art

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional toilet seat 1 disclosed in TaiwanesePatent Application Publication No. 201011143 includes a seat member 11,a sprayer device 12 mounted under a rear portion of the seat member 11,two heaters 13 disposed in the seat member 11 for warming up the seatmember 11, and a control device 14 including a plurality of buttons 141for driving the sprayer device 12 to spray water as well as forcontrolling amount and temperature of the water sprayed from the sprayerdevice 12.

The control device 14 is mounted at one of lateral sides of the seatmember 11, and thus, the area occupied by the conventional toilet seat 1is relatively large. To reduce the area occupied by the conventionaltoilet seat 1, the control device 14 is replaced by another controldevice 14′ that is separate from the conventional toilet seat 1.

However, it is inconvenient to provide a receiving space foraccommodating the control device 14′. Further, an external power supplyfor the control device 14′ is also required, thus resulting inadditional manufacturing cost for the conventional toilet seat 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a toiletseat capable of alleviating the above drawbacks of the prior art.

According to the present invention, a toilet seat comprises a seat unit,a user-operating unit, and an acting device. The seat unit includes ahousing and a seat member that has front and rear portions. The seatmember is pivotally connected to the housing at the rear portion. Theuser-operating unit is mounted in the front portion of the seat member.The acting device mounted to the seat unit and driven by theuser-operating unit to perform an action.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional toilet seat disclosed inTaiwanese Patent Application Publication No. 201011143;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of a toiletseat according to the present invention, where a sprayer device of thetoilet seat is disposed at a retracted position;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the first preferred embodiment, wherethe sprayer device of the toilet seat is disposed at an operativeposition;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method for controlling the toilet seat ofthe first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of thetoilet seat according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic top view of a third preferred embodiment of thetoilet seat according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it shouldbe noted that same reference numerals have been used to denote likeelements throughout the specification.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, a first preferred embodiment of a toilet seataccording to the present invention is shown. The toilet seat includes aseat unit 2, an acting device, a user-operating unit, and a detectingdevice 5. Preferably, the toilet seat is a bidet toilet seat.

The seat unit 2 includes a housing 21, a cover 23 pivotally connected tothe housing 21, and a seat member 22 having front and rear portions 221,222. The seat member 22 is pivotally connected to the housing 21 at therear portion 222.

In this embodiment, the acting device is a sprayer device 3 mountedunder the rear portion 222 of the seat member 22 and adapted forspraying water. Further referring to FIG. 5, the sprayer device 3includes a first nozzle 31 and a second nozzle 32 having a lengthgreater than that of the first nozzle 31. Each of the first and secondnozzles 31, 32 is movable between a retracted position (FIG. 2), whereeach of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 is retracted under the rearportion 222 of the seat member 22, and an operative position (FIG. 5),where one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 is exposed from theseat member 22.

The user-operating unit includes a sensor unit 4 and a control device 6.The sensor unit 4 is mounted in the housing 21 at one of lateral sidesof the housing 21, and is adapted for sensing a motion of a user seatedon the seat member 22 and for generating motion signals according to afrequency of the motion of the user. In this embodiment, the sensor unit4 is a capacitive senor unit. It should be noted that the sensor unit 4is adapted for sensing a tapping motion or a wave motion of a limb ofthe user.

The detecting device 5 is mounted in the housing 21 at the other one ofthe lateral sides of the housing 21, has a detection range 51 that doesnot interfere with a sensing range 41 of the sensor unit 4, and isoperable to generate a detecting signal to be received by the controldevice 6 when the detecting device 5 detects the user seated on the seatmember 22. It is noted that the detecting device 5 is an optoelectronicswitch in this embodiment. In other embodiments, the detecting device 5may be one of a capacitive sensor element, a thermal sensor, and othersuitable sensor units.

The control device 6 is mounted in the housing 21 and is operable toenable the sensor unit 4 according to the detecting signal generated bythe detecting device 5. The control device 6 includes a communicationmodule 61, a control module 62, and a driving module 63. Thecommunication module 61 is electrically connected to the sensor unit 4for receiving the motion signal therefrom and is electrically connectedto the detecting device 5 for receiving the detecting signal therefrom.The control module 62 is programmed with a plurality of program codescorresponding to the motion signals that are associated with thefrequencies of the motion of the user, respectively. The driving module63 is controlled by the control module 62 and drives the sprayer device3 according to the program codes.

The control device 6 outputs a trigger signal to enable the sensor unit4 to sense the motion of the user when the communication module 61continuously receives the detecting signal generated for the detectingdevice 5 by a predetermined duration (t).

Referring to FIG. 6, a preferred embodiment of a method for controllingthe toilet seat includes the following steps.

In step 70, the detecting device 5 is configured to detect whether auser enters the detection range 51 thereof, that is to say, the usersits on the seat member 22.

In step 71, the detecting device 5 is configured to output a detectingsignal to be received by the control device 6 when the detecting device5 detects that the user has entered the detection range 51, i.e., thedetecting device 5 is shaded from light by the user. In a case where thedetecting device 5 is a capacitive sensor element, the detecting device5 is configured to output a detecting signal when the detecting device 5detects a change in capacitance.

In step 72, the control device 6 is configured to determine whether thedetecting signal generated by and received from the detecting device 5continues for a predetermined duration (t). When the detecting signaldoes not continue for the predetermined duration (t), the flow goes backto step 70.

When it is determined in step 72 that the detecting signal has continuedfor the predetermined duration (t), the flow goes to step 73. In step73, the control device 6 is configured to output a trigger signal toenable the sensor unit 4 to sense the motion of the user. At this time,since the detecting signal generated by the detecting device 5 hascontinued for the predetermined duration (t), it is determined that theuser is seated on the seat member 22. By this way, the sensor unit 4 iscapable of sensing motion of the user.

In step 74, the sensor unit 4 is configured to detect a frequency of themotion of the user, e.g. a frequency of tapping motion of a right thighof the user, and to generate a motion signal to be received by thecommunication module 61 of the control device 6 according to thefrequency of the motion of the user. The motion signal is associatedwith a change in capacitance in the sensing range 41.

In step 75, the control module 62 is configured to control the drivingmodule 63 to drive the sprayer device 3 according to one of the programcodes that corresponds to the frequency of the motion of the userdetected in step 74.

For example, when it is detected by the sensor unit 4 that a frequencyof the tapping motion of the user is 2 Hz (T=0.5 s, i.e., tapping oncewithin 0.5 second), the first nozzle 31 is driven by the driving module63 to move from the retracted position (FIG. 2) to the operativeposition (FIG. 5). Additionally, the second nozzle 32 is moved from theretracted position to the operative position when a frequency of thetapping motion of the user is 4 Hz (T=0.25 s, i.e., tapping twice within0.5 second). Further, after one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32is moved to the operative position, when a frequency of the tappingmotion of the user detected by the sensor unit 4 is 4 Hz (T=0.25 s),said one of the first and second nozzles 31, 32 is driven to spray asmall amount of water. Similarly, said one of the first and secondnozzles 31, 32 is driven to spray a large amount of water as a frequencyof the tapping motion is 6 Hz (T=⅙ s, i.e., tapping three times within0.5 second).

Referring to FIG. 7, a second preferred embodiment of the toilet seataccording to the present invention is shown. The main difference betweenthe second preferred embodiment and the first preferred embodimentresides in that the sensor unit 4 is mounted in the rear portion 222 ofthe seat member 22, and is an optoelectronic switch for sensing a wavemotion of a limb of the user.

Referring to FIG. 8, the third preferred embodiment of the toilet seatof the present invention is shown. The main difference between the thirdpreferred embodiment and first preferred embodiment is described in thefollowing. In the third preferred embodiment, the detecting device 5 isomitted and the sensor unit 4 is embedded in a middle part of the frontportion 221 of the seat member 22 and under a top surface of the frontportion 221 and includes a plurality of sensors 41. The sensor unit 4 isconfigured to generate a motion signal in response to detection of atouch by the user. In particular, the sensor unit 4 is for generatingthe motion signal according to a position of one of the sensors 41 whichthe user touches.

The front portion 221 of the seat member 22 is formed with a pluralityof visible patterns 223 that are for selection by the user, thatindicate different functions such as control of the first and secondnozzles 31, 32, and that correspond in position to the sensors 41 of thesensor unit 4, respectively.

The control device 6 is for controlling the sprayer device 3 to spraywater according to the motion signal that corresponds to the position ofone of the visible patterns 223 and a corresponding one of the sensors41.

By this way, since the middle part of the front portion 221 of the seatmember 22 is not covered by the user seated on the seat member 22, theuser can simply operate the sprayer device 3 by touching the visiblepatterns 223 on the seat member 22. It should be noted that, in thisembodiment, each of the sensors 41 of the sensor unit 4 is a capacitivesensing element which is capable of detecting the touch action of theuser.

To sum up, the toilet seat of the present invention provides a userinterface that is integrated in the seat member 22 and that enableseffective operation of the sprayer device 3 by one of a tapping motion,a wave motion, and a touch action of the user. Consequently, the areaoccupied by the toilet seat of the present invention is relatively smalland an external power supply is not required for the control device 6.

While the invention has been described in connection with what areconsidered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A toilet seat comprising: a seat unit including ahousing and a seat member that has front and rear portions, said seatmember being pivotally connected to said housing at said rear portion; auser-operating unit mounted in said front portion of said seat member;and an acting device mounted to said seat unit and driven by saiduser-operating unit to perform an action.
 2. The toilet seat as claimedin claim 1, wherein said user-operating unit includes a sensor unitadapted for generating a motion signal in response to detection of auser operation, and a control device mounted in said housing andelectrically connected to said sensor unit for receiving the motionsignal therefrom so as to control said driven device accordingly.
 3. Thetoilet seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein said user-operating unit isadapted for generating the motion signal according to a position wherethe user touches said user-operating unit.
 4. The toilet seat as claimedin claim 2, wherein said user-operating unit is embedded in said frontportion of said seat member under a top surface of said front portion.5. The toilet seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein said sensor unitincludes a plurality of sensors, and said front portion of said seatmember is formed with a plurality of visible patterns that are used forselection by the user and that respectively correspond in position tosaid sensors of said user-operating unit.
 6. The toilet seat as claimedin claim 2, wherein said driven device is mounted under said rearportion of said seat unit and is a sprayer device controlled by saidcontrol device according to the motion signal to spray water.
 7. Thetoilet seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user-operating unit isembedded in a middle part of said front portion of said seat member.